Areas must often be graded or otherwise be re-shaped by construction equipment such as a front-end loader to achieve a particular slope and appearance. However, once graded the soil must be compacted to a stable state so that the graded area is less susceptible to erosion and is ready to become the footing of a structure to be built on the soil. Thus, two distinct activities, grading and compacting, must be performed at a given site. These two distinct activities typically require two distinct vehicles on the job site, namely a loader and a compactor.
The two distinct vehicles per job site present a dilemma. There are many costs associated with owning, operating, and maintaining two vehicles instead of one. Each vehicle itself is a significant cost in the range of at least tens of thousands of dollars. Furthermore, there is twice the maintenance and additional operating crew associated with operating two vehicles per job site. Therefore, it is costly to provide loading and compacting services using two distinct vehicles.